can't install USB2 card-bios problem?

Recommended by Wim's BIOS...

I'm new to this Board and in a way sort of hope I'm quickly gone. This Bios stuff scares me, but I'm at wits end.

Two years ago, local pc shop assembled unit for me: WinMe, Athlon 1 Gig, two 30 GB HD in Raid, 512 RAM, DVD, CD-RW. Award bios and I believe KT7A board, via chip set. I added IEEE1394 card about a year ago. That was the last card I was successful at. Three months ago tried to add a USB2 card-neither Adaptec nor SIIG could figure problem out (I bought two different cards;system became screwy). Tried to add a Belkin network card and system crashed immediately. Gave up on PCI. Now am trying to add a USB wireless network adapter as USB works for a camera and a thumb drive and it's not a PCI slot. Both Microsoft and Netgear stumped-when USB wireless adapter installed, both IE6 and Netscape 7 say thay have error and close. System Restore brings everything back.

Does this sound like a bios problem? Should I say "should have bought a Dell? Many thanks.

Is VIA Service Pack installed?

I did download the via-4in1-v440v(a)p3.zip file back in July 02 and installed those-it didn't seem to help. But based on your question, I just went back to Via http://www.viaarena.com/?PageID=2 and see they now have a "Hyperion 4in1" set. They also have what appear as "patches" for USB and although there is nothing on Wireless, they also have "Networking."

Would the "new" Hyperion 4in1 include all those "patches" or would they be separate downloads? And if they're not included, how do you know which patch to download?

What makes me curious is this unit is only about 2 years old. If these new drivers could make the difference in installing a USB2 card or a network card or a USB wireless network adapter, wouldn't one think that Microsoft, netgear, Siig or Adaptec would have suggested it? This would seem an easier "solution" than reinstalling Windows. I'll do some more reading on this tonight. Thanks for the insight.

This is an update on the problem. Downloaded and installed latest Hyperian (Via 4in1) drivers. Also installed Via USB patch. Same problem: after installing USB wireless software and adapter (either a netgear OR a microsoft one) I can see adapter connected to router, but as soon as I try to go to a web site with either IE(6) or NS(7), I get error messages saying they have encountered problem. I have to then remove the software and use system restore to get back to "normal."

Latest idea is to reinstall WIndows ME (which I don't know how to do exactly, suggestions welcomed).

[KachiWachi]

Please post your BIOS ID string and verify your motherboard manufacturer (if you can), along with the exact errors you are recieving. Need more info here...

It's an Abit Kt7a Raid with Via chipset. I'm still trying to write down the bios number...it does say "Award" and it seems the date is 12/15/2000.

An immediate question is, the bios currently has in the PnP area the OS set to "disabled" which I understand is the "correct" setting and allows the bios to determine the hardware. What happens if I change that?

Does it appear Windows ME is "corrupted?"
Might the MB be "bad?"
Does it seem the bios is "bad?"

On installing and starting a Belkin NIC, the system crashes right away.
On installing an Adaptec or SIIG USB2 card, the system will report various errors and then crash and some other screwy stuff
On installing a USB Wireless network adapter, everything works fine EXCEPT when I open either IE6 or NS7 and try to go to a web site, I get an error message like IE has encountered a problem and will now close.

In every case, System Restore has brought the unit back to normal operation.

it is:
8363 686B 6A6L MA19C-W

That is probably not the exact sequence with spaces, just the way I wrote them down as the screen flashed by.

mragjr wrote:

On installing and starting a Belkin NIC, the system crashes right away.
On installing an Adaptec or SIIG USB2 card, the system will report various errors and then crash and some other screwy stuff
On installing a USB Wireless network adapter, everything works fine EXCEPT when I open either IE6 or NS7 and try to go to a web site, I get an error message like IE has encountered a problem and will now close.

Did you test these devices in another computer(s)?

To write down the BIOS ID string, press the Pause/Break key while the ID appears on the screen.

[NickS]

mragjr wrote:

it is:
8363 686B 6A6L MA19C-W

That is probably not the exact sequence with spaces, just the way I wrote them down as the screen flashed by.

Use BIOS Agent, from the link on the Main Wim's BIOS site.

[KachiWachi]

From Adrian's Rojak Pot's "The Definitive BIOS Optimization Guide" -

"Setting the PNP OS Installed feature to No allows the BIOS to configure all devices under the assumption that the operating system cannot do so. Therefore, all hardware settings are fixed by the BIOS at boot up and will not be changed by the operating system.

Setting the feature to Yes, the BIOS will only configure critical devices like the graphics card and hard disk. The other motherboard devices are then configured by the operating system. This allows the operating system some flexibility in shuffling system resources like IRQs and IO ports to avoid conflicts. It also gives you some degree of freedom in manually shuffling system resources."

Without the seemingly troublesome cards installed, do you have any resources free (IRQ's, etc...)?? Maybe setting this feature to "on" may help you out... You can always turn it off if it doesn't...

I'm assuming you are trying to add "something" to the computer to connect all your networking stuff, and it doesn't really matter what (does it?) I'm not sure why installing the NIC kills the system, unless it is a bad card, or it can't find the resources it needs to work right. As for the USB-2 cards, I bought an Adaptec Duo-Connect (USB-1, USB-2, and IEEE 1394 all-in-one) and had no troubles installing that into my machine, including the Adaptec USB-2 driver, even though I don't have any USB-2 devices as yet. I did that to save a PCI slot, and has worked out fine. What do you have that requires USB-2? I assume the Wireless Adapter plugs into your motherboards existing USB-1 ports...correct? That may be a whole different problem as to why it crashes IE or Netscape. I have seen the IE message before...what does the error printout say (you don't have to send it to Microsoft to read the error text, though I don't recall how at this moment)...might give you some more insight on the problem...